Last year on this date, Haglund was overjoyed at having just experienced an exquisite performance of Mozartiana danced by Tiler Peck and soloist Harrison Ball who two weeks later would finally be appointed to the rank of principal dancer, an event long overdue. We hailed his performance as a revelation, Danish-inspired, and an exceptional and startling reminder of the greatness of a past generation. And in what now seems like an eerie foreshadowing, we also noted:
As much as we love seeing Ball dance at this extraordinarily high level, we know that it often comes with great cost. We hope that this dancer will be able to intelligently moderate his intensity so that we may enjoy his dancing for many years to come.
Here we now face Harrison Ball's premature retirement due to disabling injuries. It's terribly sad how the joy of dancing combined with the compulsion to meet standards of perfection, or even to push beyond perfection, can have such a toll. When dancers push beyond their own capabilities, they seem to have a physiological and mental need to do so. Their confidence is over-enhanced by endorphins and guided by a denial that there could be any consequence for making a herculean effort. It is a thrilling if not intoxicating way to live on the stage. But it has its costs as we continually see.
So Harrison Ball will soon dance his final performance and will then concentrate on acting and choreography. We recently saw his first choreographic commission on stage when the New Jersey Ballet premiered his Purcell Suite, an astonishingly well-crafted, fully developed, beautiful work for twelve women with costumes designed by Zak Posen. The ballet found its first legs at the New York Choreographic Institute which provides development resources for budding choreographers. A preview glimpse of the ballet which was shown a year ago featured New York City Ballet dancers Mira Nadon, Megan LeCrone, Ashley Laracey, Ruby Lister, and Ava Sautter. Take a look.
Just throwing this out there – why not present this ballet on the NYCB stage during Ball's Farewell Performance on April 30? Not only would it ameliorate the sadness of having to say goodbye too soon, it would happily introduce the NYCB audience to a choreographer who they can hope will one day make dances for the company that are as beautiful and sensitively musical as Purcell Suite. By the way, New Jersey Ballet will perform the ballet again on April 15 at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood.
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